As effective electric vehicles are becoming more feasible and more desirable, there is an increased interest in home-based charging stations. To minimize charging times, it is desirable to use a high voltage (e.g., 240 volt) charging system. While using such systems there are both safety considerations and safety laws that need to be addressed to minimize the risk to homeowners and their property. Technologies addressing these considerations may also be useful to improve vehicle charging stations in industrial and commercial settings.
One significant concern is for the scenario when a charging station is disrupted while it is actively connected to and charging a vehicle. There are many ways this could happen in a home environment. For example, when a charging station cable extends across a gap from a charging station console to at vehicle, children or pets could run through the gap, yanking strongly on the cable causing damage to the system. Likewise, items in a garage could fall over and land on the cable. And of course, a driver could attempt to drive the vehicle away while it is still connected to the charging station.
In all these scenarios, the charging station cable is yanked in tension, potentially causing some part of the system to be broken. It is desirable for the system to be of a design that minimizes the risk of exposing energized (i.e., live) electrical wires to people, pets or flammable materials. Thus, it is desirable to minimize the likelihood that a high-force cable yanking event would either tear open the console unit of the charging station (where there are live wires) or expose live wires somewhere along the length of a charging station cable.
Accordingly, there has existed a need for a charging station configured with a failsafe structure that can cope with structurally damaging forces while minimizing the likelihood of exposing live electrical parts to people or flammable property. Preferred embodiments of the present invention satisfy these and other needs, and provide further related advantages.